The invention relates to a rotary damper for a motor vehicle, including at least one damper element for damping the relative movement between a first mass, arranged on the side of a wheel suspension, and a second mass, arranged on a side of the vehicle body.
Many areas of technology require damping of relative movements between two components of a vibratory mechanical system. One example involves vibration damping on a motor vehicle body in the region of the suspension of the body on the chassis. Hydraulic dampers, such as in the form of linearly acting telescopic dampers are used for example for this purpose.
Rotary dampers represent an alternative to the afore-mentioned telescopic dampers and are known per se. The mode of operation of a rotary damper is based in principle on a lever element which is arranged on a side of the wheel suspension and movable during a relative mass movement and which is directly or indirectly dynamically coupled with a rotatably mounted damper part of the damper element pertaining to the rotary damper so that the respective damper part is caused to rotate.
In view of the ever increasing demands on comfort and acoustics of modern motor vehicles, also the demands on absorption capability of the damper system increase with respect to vibrations caused during operation of the motor vehicle.
Known approaches for increasing the absorption capability of the damper system include in particular the use of so-called elastomer bearings, i.e. bearings formed of elastomer material. Additional measures are generally limited by the known tight space constraints within a wheel well that receives a respective rotary damper.